Noesi and Montero Shine

I have attended four shutouts in a row at Safeco Field, thankfully today was the first time the Mariners had won in that span.  Today's final score was the reverse of yesterday's, as we won 4-0.  The stars of the game were traded for in the Pineda trade. 

Athletics (4-4)

Weeks 2B

Crisp LF

Reddick RF

Cespedes CF

Smith DH

Suzuki C

Barton 1B

Donaldson 3B

Pennington SS

Milone (1-0, 0.00)

Mariners (4-5)

Figgins CF

Ackley 2B

Ichiro RF

Smoak 1B

Montero C

Liddi 3B

Olivo DH

Wells LF

Ryan SS

Noesi (0-1, 21.00)

It was the first time we got to see Noesi, I had no idea what to expect as he was shelled in his first start in Texas.  He was very effective and induced a ton of popups.  Ackley alone had four of the nine. The only major trouble he got in was in the 8th inning.  He was at 88 pitches through 7 and at the rate he was going I thought he had a possibility of a complete game.  He retired the first two batters of the 8th, but then Pennington got a single up the middle and Weeks launched a double to right center.  We were lucky that it bounced over the fence for a ground rule double, 'cause Pennington was already around third ready to score.  Noesi then induced Crisp to pop up on the next pitch, and he stranded the runners on second and third.  Fantastic first outing at home, I was very impressed.  League came in to finish off the game in the 9th.

Milone faced only 1 batter above the minimum through 5 innings, that was Montero's 2nd inning full count rocket of a home run to deep center, estimated at 415 feet.  It was literally a line drive, I thought it was going to hit off the top of the wall for a double but it kept carrying.  It was his first home run as a Mariner.  That was all of our offense until the sixth inning.  There was a questionable call in the 4th in which Ichiro hit a solid stroke just past first base.  Barton was able to deflect it, but it hit the first base umpire so instead of going to the wall Barton was able to snatch it and throw to Milone covering first.  Wedge came out to argue, pointing animatedly.  It was bang bang, huge boos came from the concourse after the replay on TV, but according to twitter he was out. 

In the sixth inning we broke out for three more runs.  We loaded the bases with 1 out via a Ryan single, Figgins double, and Ackley walk.  Ichiro, not surprisingly, popped out.  So the bases were loaded with two out for the "meat" of our lineup.  Smoak has been struggling but he patiently worked a walk for his third RBI of the year.  Then, Montero came through again with a double down the right field line, it dropped right in front of our section and cleared the bases... except Smoak was thrown out at home (9-3-2) so we only got two runs on the play.  The collision at home was a little scary at first, as Smoak seemed to take some time getting up.  But he played the rest of the game so he must be okay.  Montero was the hero, his final line: 3 AB, R, 2B, HR, 3RBI

Montero quietly has an 8 game hitting streak.  I guess he has done so because they had all been singles prior to tonight.  Also, he caught his second game of the year.  We have won both games, and unlike Olivo he has done a decent job blocking pitches.  The kid is only 22, I can see Montero moving to being the starting catcher if he continues to make progress.  The Athletics did steal a base on him in the third, but the more repetitions he gets the better he will be.  Of course, he won't be one of the top notch defensive catchers out there, but his better than average offense will offset that.  Your DH should not be a 22 year old.  

I would like the add that the Saturday curse is officially broken!  Last year I attended 9 games on Saturday and we won none of them!

The Mariners are now 1-1 when I attend, 5-5 overall.
Attendance: 21,071
Time of Game: 2:29